Not Having Enough Billable Hours Can Kill Your Business Success

As a solo professional, it is likely safe to assume that most of the income in your business comes directly from the hours that you are face to face with a client. You might have some other streams of revenue but basically the number of billable hours will not only feed your Sales Report but also your Profit and Loss report for the year.

There are many noble causes and administrative duties in a business that can sidetrack the best of business people. We all become caught in the celebrity charity events and demands offered by community projects. Many join social clubs with the goal of helping other professionals to do good works for others.

Some people focus on doing their own accounting, writing newsletters or doing office work that is necessary but non-billable.

You see, the word "billable" is the key that will make the difference between doing well and not doing well.

Over the years I have put considerable thought into how I will run my private practice. I know that there are some things which I can go easily and quickly but, no matter how tempted I am to invest my time into these things, I always remind myself that I need to go the things that will increase income and profit. Those things, in my case, include providing therapy for clients, writing reports that are requested for a fee, contracting speaking engagements and selling my books. When I am focused on these activities the income is steady or increases.

Now, here's the nugget. If I hire someone at $10.00 to $20.00 an hour who has specific skills to do the non-billable work, I can work for only one hour to pay that person for a full day. Wow! That is amazing.

Think about it. I can do one hour of non-billable work myself or do one hour of billable work and hire someone else for a full day to do the non-billables. It really doesn't take long to figure out which is the wiser choice and better deal.

So, when you think about it, even though there are a number of tasks and activities that distract you from the core of your business, when you are doing the billable tasks there are so many benefits. You can hire others to do other tasks and even donate money or hire people to do the charity work on your behalf. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Make sure that you are doing what you need to do for enough hours each day so that you can keep a healthy financial statement, hire others, and provide support for the community projects that you want to promote.

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